GeneWatch UK PR: UK Government and GM industry collusion exposed

Tuesday 6th May

GeneWatch UK today released a dossier of correspondence and
meetings between the UK Government and the GM industry, obtained through a
series of Freedom of Information requests. A briefing summarising the findings,
with links to the released documents, has been posted on the GeneWatch UK
website (1).

"Members of the public
will be shocked by the extent to which foreign GM companies have muscled their
way in to Government departments, developing a cosy relationship with ministers",
said Dr Helen Wallace, Director of GeneWatch UK. "Ministers and officials are not acting in the public interest but
colluding with the industry to push ahead with commercial plantings of RoundUp
Ready GM crops and undermine EU safety laws".

GeneWatch has released the documents in the run up to a
decision by European environment ministers on whether to allow pro-GM countries
to go ahead with commercial plantings, despite opposition from other member
states. The proposal will be discussed at 12th June Environmental
Council meeting and, if adopted, could complete negotiations with the European
Parliament by end 2014. Monsanto or Syngenta's RoundUp Ready GM maize, which
are waiting in the pipeline for approval, could then be planted in England as
early as next spring.

The documents show how Environment Secretary Owen Paterson
has collaborated with the GM industry since taking up his post, alongside more
junior ministers at Defra. Paterson has reversed previous UK opposition to the
devolved cultivation proposal in order to allow GM cultivation to be pushed
ahead. Science Minister David Willetts, and the BIS communications team, have also
been active in promoting GM on behalf of industry as part of the Government's
Agri-Tech Strategy, which gives industry control over R&D investments. The
documents:

Reveal
how foreign multinational GM companies are running the Government's PR strategy
on GM crops by controlling how public and private money will be invested in
research;

Show that
taxpayers' money is being spent on PR for the GM industry rather than
delivering better food and farming;

Highlight
the extent to which the GM industry's role in Government policy is being kept
hidden from the public.

"These documents
expose Government collusion with the GM industry to agree PR messages and
blacklist critical journalists. Scientists have been cherry-picked to push GM
industry PR, as it seems the Government has made promises of research funds
tied to public-private partnerships with Monsanto or Syngenta dependent on
supporting commercial cultivation of RoundUp Ready GM crops in Britain"
said Dr Wallace. "Disturbingly, the
Government has also been kept in the loop over lobbying by GM feed importers behind
closed doors to stop supermarkets offering their customers the choice of GM-free-fed
meat and dairy products. British consumers have lost out to boost Monsanto's
profits, as more GM RoundUp Ready soya is shipped in for use in feed, harming
the environment abroad".

Growing RoundUp Ready GM crops destroys wildlife habitats,
harming birds and butterflies, and leads to the growth of 'superweeds' due to
blanket spraying of the crops with the weedkiller RoundUp, which they have been
genetically engineered to tolerate. Patents on the seeds allow multinational
companies to prevent seed saving by farmers and gain monopoly control over the
market.